As many know, an offer was made by Groupe Bernard Tapie to purchase Full Tilt Poker. The full amount of the deal was never disclosed but it’s rumored that Full Tilt owes players over $360 million worldwide and about half of that to players in the United States. The company only had $60 million in its bank accounts so the deal would effectively require the group and any other investors to use $300 million of its own money to get the company out of debt. It’s unlikely Full Tilt poker, even with their previous goodwill and software is worth anything near that, so Groupe Bernard Tapie will likely be looking for other options. Originally it was reported that Bernard Tapie stated he was only willing to finance up to 15% of that amount, but he has since denied it.

The AGCC apparently has approved the takeover bid of the company but has stated that they will only allow the new group to start up the operations if they settle the current situation in the United States. In better words, the group and the current board of directors of Full Tilt need to pay back U.S. players all funds owed and reach a deal with the DoJ to get them off Alderney’s back. Only then can they start back up again and cater to customers outside of the United States; but how exactly the group can do so is unclear. For one thing the DoJ will likely be unwilling to deal with anybody on the current board of directors of Full Tilt and they’ll almost certainly want their pound of flesh from those they believe conducted a ponzi scheme. The DoJ has stated that any fines they receive from the former board (Raymond Bitar, Rafael Furst, Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson) will be used to pay back players, and based on the amount they received from Anurag Dikshitz of Party Poker in 2008 it will almost certainly exceed the $125 million owed to U.S. players. However, it’s uncertain if any of the former board really has that kind of money available anymore and more importantly the DoJ will almost certainly renege on the promise claiming it needs that money to prosecute those involved in the ponzi scheme. To add to the likelihood the DoJ won’t give back any fines they receive is the fact that they never seized as much money as was originally reported. The AGCC and Full Tilt stated that the DoJ seized $331 million over 4 years from Full Tilt Poker but they later acknowledged that the true amount was only $159 million. Therefore, the DoJ has less Full Tilt money then it originally appeared. Thus, any feint hope that the government would actually return some of the seized funds to players is gone. The DoJ will surely state the amounts seized along with the fines won’t even cover the costs of the prosecution so they’re keeping it all.

Of course the news that the DoJ only seized $159 million has to make Groupe Bernard Tapie suspect of the previous operation as well. It was always believed that the company was a cash cow and was only negative on the balance sheet because the government seized funds and shut them down on Black Friday. But if the true cash assets of the company were only $219 million (the $60 million in its bank account plus the $159 million seized) then its true worth was far below the $390 million in accounts even with the unfunded accounts added in. So Full Tilt was effectively insolvent long before Black Friday and may indeed have been a ponzi scheme considering the shareholders took their dividends in spite of the financial situation.

For that reason there is a rumor circulating that Groupe Bernard Tapie is prepared to allow the current shareholders the option of buying equity in the new startup as well as players owed in excess of 6 figures. The group’s hope is that players, instead of requesting (say) $300,000 owing to them, will agree to waive that money in exchange for an equity share that could prove to be worth much more if Tapie can indeed make the new Full Tilt Poker profitable again outside the U.S. But given what is now known about the financial situation, one has to wonder if any account holders will be anxious to take the new investors up on the offer. Mind you, if no one accepts the offer and Groupe Bernard Tapie pulls out then Full Tilt players will get nothing.

The managing director of the group, Laurent Tapie, stated “I wouldn’t have undertaken such a project if I didn’t believe in its potential,” so he likely has some other ideas up his sleeve as well if this means of raising funds doesn’t come through. If deals can be made and the DoJ gives the new investors and Alderney it’s blessing to restart the site, expect Full Tilt Poker to be operational again sometime around January.